Boats and Bikes!

Out on the road, the weather is fine and settled for the week ahead in this region. The mountains of Gredos still visible and will only drop from view tomorrow when I reach Trujullio.

Whilst the ride was great, the opportunities for coffee along the way is limited. Water being an essential item for the ride, you can see that I made  a detour to top up.

Hotel was on the main plazza at my destination. Two restaurants in town but out of business. So food was bread, ham and tortilla from a small shop.

Check in was a pain. I had to cycle outside of town to collect the key (see second map!)

This is a farming area. Here we have tobacco and Chilies. I had no idea that baccy was grown here until I see a sign stating that one town I passed through was the tobacco capital of Spain!

Looking at this picture. I am longing for a massive bowl of Chile Con Carne!

Some more pictures of view along the route.

Sadly fires area issue in Spain. It looks like the firefighters were quick to contain the fire as this is only a small area damaged.

And finally, sunset at the town with no eating places.

So here we are, perfect weather and in rural Spain where its a rough road to start the day! After 5 KM, its a better road but the energy situation is not so good. Its a98KM ride ahead with over 1,000m climbing planned. I have a hotel booked for the end.

As I start off, I am thinking that I may just cut the ride short at El Barco de Avila and just check into a hotel and rest up. When I reached El Barco, I managed to grab some grub and decided to keep riding.

This is one of my most favorite places in Spain. (except the restaurant regime!). On previous trips, I have gone down the Jerte Valley. This time I have circled back on my route to take in Gredos national park.

As you will see from the pictures below, its amazing. Loads of climbing but you have to climb to see the views. I did not like the final hill at the end which took me to my hotel.

Rough road starting out from Casa Rural.

Apparently, I am not properly equipped for this area. But at 30 degrees Celsius, I think I will be fine.

A view along the road in Gredos region

Random flag.

One very welcome watering point with cool spring water.

Mountain (or Cycle) rescue on standby.

After all the climbing it will be a massive drop of 800m down the valley.

This is the start of the drop. But earlier on, the maximum elevation was 1568m above see level.

And down in the valley yet another Castillo. Shortly after this I encountered the sting in the tail for the ride. It was a steep 170m climb when I was completely out of energy. Good news. I found a place serving Tapas and scoffed a main meal at 2045!

The day started out dry with thunder storms forecast for 1400. Energy levels quite low this morning as only managed to grab a sandwich from a corner store. Most places do not star taking food orders until 2130 in this small town. This has been a long standing frustration for me as when I get in from a ride, I prefer to be at the table and eating by 2000. Eating close to midnight is not healthy. I am absolutely baffled why it needs to be this way in Spain.

The knock on effect for the next day from lack of food is quite significant.

Some pictures from today.

Small village I was passing through. Road surface was not great and of course this makes it difficult for a tired rider. But after 10KM I am onto smoother roads.

The low energy feeling is made a bit worse when most of the ride is up hill for the first two hours. Just to the north of Piedhahita, I am about to start the main decent. Normally a stunning view but due to weather, it was a bit grey.

And

And jut to my right on the way down, there is a storm. Just missed me!

I found an amazing rural hotel for the night. Food served at 2000 but not in sufficient quantity for the energy I need for the next day.

Back on the road again and traveling down a route I have used before. Weather is still a bit unstable but started out fine. I managed to reach my destination missing the thunder and deluge which was a short distance to the south of me.

Nice start to the day. The exit out of Valladolid is great as there is a dedicated cycle route running alongside for quite a few KM.

Wine harvest complete. Some bodega now tuning the grapes info a nice bottle of wine nearby!

Medina de Campo – Local cycle shop where I stopped in 2017 to buy a replacement pump. Stopped by this time to buy spear break pads.

Mirage ahead.

Fuel stations are great for topping up with fuel (coke and water!) Over the past few years, I have seen some of these places close a more motorways are built. With less traffic, these fuel stations become less viable and close.

This means even more careful planning needed to ensure I am passing through places where I can buy water. Beware of planning tools like Komoot. They are great at finding quite routes, but so quite that if you don’t modify the route, Komoot will take you on a 6 hour route with no place to buy water!

With the heat and humidity. storm clouds building over the direction of Avila. Luckily it missed me on the ride and rain only came after I made it to my hotel!

Blue dot was my location. My route from Medina Del Campo stayed dry.

Heavy rain as I woke up and and I am not in the mood to get soaked for days to come. Bad weather is now settled in this region. So its off south on a train to find some dry cycling.

Its not just the rain. Its the lightning which can be dangerous.

Some rail routes are not geared up for bikes at all. Local staff were really helpful and gave good advice on the rules. I was directed to Decathlon to buy a bike bag. Also picked up a replacement gear cable!  The from wheel needs to be removed to make it more compact.
First leg is rail replacement service. Then onto a train to Valladolid. Weather improved the further I got into the trip.

So now all set for the ride tomorrow.

Another nice day on the road and I was able to get over the border into Spain before the storms arrive. Managed to loose a bit of time along the way as a gear cable snapped. A road side repair job took a few mins and then I was on my way again.

The N121A tunnel was shut. Cyclist are banned from the tunnel anyway, but the police re-routed the heavy traffic up the quiet route. So not such a nice climb 🙁

The roads just south of Bayonne are very nice when going along country lanes. The hills ahead are a taste of hard work to come.

Another dedicated cycle track!

The border is easy to miss if you are not paying attention!

Opps – “Mechanical!”

This is near the top before the long decent. The building near the lorries was a bar. First stopped in for a coffee in 2013.  It was open in 2019, but I suspect the business is yet another victim of Covid 🙁

For day 5, its a push south to Soulac, another nice ride. Good progress made with some interesting sites along the way. See pictures below for more information.

Due to loosing so much time due to the bad weather and high winds at the start of the trip, I decided to use SNCF to get me back to where I needed to be. I have cycled through Aquitaine before and its frankly boring as its flat and all you can see is trees. South of Arcachon, the roads on previous trips have been rough, so giving it a miss is a good idea for this ride.

Tomorrow, some major climbing over the Pyrenees where I will enter Spain.

Le Map

The transporter bridge just south of Rochefort. People and bikes only. For quite a few years I passed over the modern bridge further west without knowing that the big metal structure was not some disused lifting bridge. Last year when I was crossing the new bridge, I spotted the dangling platform and added this to my route. See Site officiel du Pont Transbordeur – Anglais (pont-transbordeur.fr) for more information.

I live in Gosport and nice to see signposts so I know how far I am from my house. This is in Royan where my town is more important than London!  (Royan is a Twin Town!)

Here is the Ferry to Le Verdon. Bikes go free (unlike on the Gosport Ferry!.
Phare de Corduan and Soulac Plage.

Not to much to report on the SNCF leg down to Bordeaux and Bayonne. But I need to give  big shout out to SNCF for the way they carry bikes.

Bayonne is a really nice place to chill. Plenty of river side bars.

Nice weather and a small tail wind. This is the first day on the road for this trip where I really enjoyed the riding. Roads were nice and quiet.

Always pleasing to see some green energy 🙂

Pit stop just to the East of Lucon. Nice brunch consisting of Panini and Coffee.

An here is La Rochelle. First time I have stopped here on a bike tour, but have been here during family holidays last century.

In Nantes this morning, its overcast with frequent rain showers. My destination is St Cecile which is off route but a couple of days ago, I had a ping inviting me to stop over. from an old Merlin friend.

This ride is for fun, so I am not wanting to cycle 5o+ miles into a strong head wind and rain, so SNCF was used for part of the ride and I finished off  with some light drizzle for the first 20 mins.

Great evening reuniting and talking old shop over beer, wine, whiskey and a meal in the local eating place.

Le Map

Pictures

Bit At

At the end of the train trip from Nantes. Grey squall coming through,  so took shelter for 10 mins before heading off.

Komoot does not get the plan right all of time. I do not appreciate being routed across puncture terrain!

The evening cleared up nicely in St Cecile. Forecast good for tomorrow.

I am heading off piste from my normal route. I have an invite to stay with Tarik, an old Merlin friend. With a strong headwind today, I have broken the journey into two by stopping in Nantes this evening.

Grey, windy and very overcast. Slight drizzle at time but no deluge!

On a different bike this year. Had a mechanical failure on my touring (& old commuting) bike. Not enough time to get new shifters, so last minute switch to carbon. The ergonomics need some adjustment as its not feeling as comfortable as the Alez Elite.

 
And here is todays map!